Three Big Questions...
Why Children’s Illustration?
I am dyslexic and, until I was about 13, I could only ‘read’ pictures. This had a profound effect on me. I realised that pictures had power. I couldn’t wield a pen to write stories but I could draw them. I found artists like Norman Rockwell, whose epic stories were told in a single image. Maurice Sendak and Charles Keeping who through pen and ink created bizarre worlds that leapt off the page and crept into my brain. I wanted to be like them, to tell stories like they did.
At 17 I became a children’s auxiliary librarian. One day I was asked to hold story time and I choose the newly acquired ‘So Much’ by Trisha Cooke and Helen Oxenbury. After reading it the children, spontaneously, lined up to give me a hug and a kiss. That display of affectionate and appreciation had never happened at story time before. I remember one mother saying the book made her feel ‘seen’.
That’s what motivated me to become an children’s illustrator. To tell stories with words and pictures that make a connection and help people feel seen.
How I use characters in my work
Although I am a Londoner born and bred I have a tempestuous relationship with the city. Which of course is a character itself. A lumbering beast crushing all those in its path or an old friend whispering secrets. My band of characters encompass the myriad of cultures that inhabit my city. I love capturing facial gestures and creating characters who leave you wanting to know more at the turn of a page.
Advice for other illustrators
For what it’s worth, my advice to creatives from under-represented communities be they Black, POC or LGBTQ, is: People are listening and looking, so if you don’t want others to talk for you or tell your stories, then pick up your pencil, brush, whatever and draw and write your own. At the moment there is a massive push to rectify decades, if not centuries, of mis-representation. So, get to it! Be part of the change, the new wave, and illustrate.